Safe Haven
by Azurevi
Summary: This is a really short story about Simon and the character I created for him in my Snapshots High School Graduation story-Haven Smith-and it's set a few years after Snapshots. Please read the author's note in the first chapter my voting requests!


**Hey guys, this is a really short story, like maybe 3 chapters total, focused on Haven and Simon. Depending on how you like them as main characters I may consider having them star in the next Snapshots! Please vote in the reviews on whether you want T or M!**

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_Simon's POV_

"Hey Simon."

A familiar very sexy voice sounded over the cell phone line that made my insides tingle. "Hi Haven."

"How's the apartment?"

I looked around the open one-bedroom attic apartment and smiled. It had been remodeled so that all four walls at some point had floor to ceiling picture windows. At all times during the day it had natural light, perfect for an improvised artist's studio.

"It's great."

"Awesome! So… Ah… did you keep that sleeper sofa that I had in there?"

" Yeah of course. Chloe reupholstered it in some silver fabric and now it won't lie flat but it's still here."

There was a pause on the other line. "Hmm… well that will still work just fine. I'm coming home for a few days. I got the weekend off as a surprise bonus for finishing a case early."

"… Next weekend?" I asked, glancing unnecessarily at the calendar.

"This weekend."

"Haven, it's Friday."

"Yup. I told you it was a surprise bonus, I found out about fifteen minutes ago." She paused and I heard her take a deep breath. "So I should be home in about half an hour. If there's… not room for me there then I can snag a hotel tonight."

I glanced around the room, eyes landing on a half-opened envelope with a pair of black lace underwear spilling out, a gift from a girl I turned down who thought she could change my mind. "Uh… no. No, there's room. But you have to cook."

"Deal, see you in forty-five?"

"Sounds good, see you then."

We hung up and I started dashing madly around the apartment. I threw away the mailed underwear, stuffing it down underneath empty tubes of paint and crumpled sketches. I tossed all my laundry into the washing machine in the closet and loaded up the dishwasher. I reminded myself that Haven and I weren't dating, that we didn't even see each other that way. But it was a lie.

All I had to do was think about all the times we'd been close and any date I had with anyone else was ruined. It wasn't just that she could look like anyone—an artist's dream—she was… Haven.

Succinct but romantic… you can see why I'm an artist, not a writer.

I took a shower and even put on a small amount of cologne—a gift that Chloe made Derek pick out, using his nose to match my natural scent with an artificial one. After that I had no more time-wasting excuses and I sat on the couch. The couch Haven would be sleeping on in just a few hours. It seemed a little silly though, it _was_ her apartment. She was lending it to me while I went to the California School of the Arts, she kept me from having to pay housing and I kept her cat from dying. Fair trade.

Basil jumped up on my lap and started purring, thinking about her was usually enough to summon her majesty.

"Hey cat." I scratched the small feline behind the ears, she was just under eight pounds and all black, a perma-kitten. "Go bother someone else would ya? I'm busy being nervous."

I got a meow in response.

I slumped back into the couch. I considered changing into something more presentable but my painting jeans and a plain white shirt were comfortable, and I was already nervous enough. There were bottles of coke in the fridge and I had Netflix so there was nothing else really to do besides wait. I hate waiting.

It seemed like hours later when there was finally a knock on the door.

"Coming!" I jumped up, dumping the cat on the floor. "Sorry Basil!" I vaulted the sofa and yanked open the door.

"Hey you." Haven smiled and my heart jumped into my throat. "Hope you're in the mood for pasta."

"Haven I'm a starving artist. All we eat is pasta." I grinned at her. It was easy to get myself worked up but she was actually easy to be with. She felt as natural as art to me.

She was still in the disguise she'd chosen for her most recent assignment. Skin paler than her usual, nose tipped up at the end, face rounder, eyes smaller and deeper set with a downward tilt at the corners. Still a cute girl but nothing like her normal face.

She handed me the groceries. "Give me just a minute while I take this face off."

I put the groceries on the counter and waited while she worked in the bathroom. It didn't take long, it never did, and she emerged with her real face; still not conventionally gorgeous but striking in her own way. It was the face that I dreamed about.

She stepped into the kitchen, making a few funny faces to adjust the muscles in her face. "Well my dear starving artist, prepare to unstarve." She started pulling things from the bag and I snagged a coke from the fridge, flopping down onto a barstool once the bottle was open.

"How are the cases going?" I asked, pushing a hand through my hair, a nervous gesture I'd picked up from Derek.

"Slow. _Although._" She shot me a sly look and slid a coke down the counter to me. "College campuses are a LOT more fun than high school, less drama, more sex."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh please. You HATE college boys."

"Ah but not college _girls_ my dear Simon." She winked and as I choked on my soda, laughed. "I'm just teasing you! It's harder than high school actually because on average the IQ's are higher."

"So. More fun." I smiled at the spark in her eye. She really loved her work.

"Yeah. More fun." She pulled out her eight inch chef's knife and started chopping kalamata olives. "Grab the blow torch please?" She pointed the pointy end of her knife under the sink.

"… Uh, Say what?" I stared at her.

"The blow torch you dork." She knelt down and pulled a genuine blow torch out of the cabinet.

It took me a second to get my shit together, you'd really think I would have found the blow torch after a few years in residence. "You know that dork is actually a term for 'whale penis'."

"No wonder you're so popular with the ladies." She flicked on the torch and started roasting a red bell pepper. "Anyway that's just an urban legend. It's just another less severe insult, playful."

"You know I think it is so sexy when you cook and insult me at the same time."

"You'd think anything I did was sexy as long as I was cooking while I did it." She expertly chopped the pepper.

"It'd be hard not to find someone who knows how to cook for a diabetic sexy." I saw her gaze soften in a way that never failed to make me respond in the same way. I loved that she didn't see me as weak, that she adapted so that she could cook for me. "Thank you."

I watched her cheeks flush as she glanced up and found me watching her, then blushed even harder. "I don't mind." She murmured, putting a pot of water on to boil.

I rocked back, easing off while she cooked so she didn't slice off a finger.

"What brings you home?" I asked.

Was it just me or did she blush again?

"Like I said; I… got a few surprise vacation days."

"And you decided to come home to Basil?" I grinned as the cat jumped into my lap, she knew her name usually meant food. "Well that's perfect timing, I put a few new movies on my Netflix queue just yesterday."

"Oh really?" She still hadn't met my eyes again after I thanked her. She puttered around for a few more minutes until the water was boiling and put the linguini in.

"Mm-hmm, I've got _Ponyo, Astro Boy _and some Looney Tunes. Animation in motion class."

She nodded and thought for a second before tossing all of her sauce ingredients in the skillet. "I'd be up for any of those, I have seen _Ponyo_ and it's very good—not as good as _Spirited Away_ but still good. I love the old Looney Tunes, but I haven't seen _Astro Boy_, would that be okay?" She asked over her shoulder.

"Absolutely. _Astro Boy_ it is." I hopped off the stool, dumping the poor cat on the ground again. I turned on her xbox live and connected it, queuing up _Astro Boy_ so we'd be set for later.

"Dinner's ready." She strained out pasta and tossed it in the skillet with the sauce, then poured it into two bowls.

"Looks awesome as usual." I sat on my stool again and started eating. "Tastes good too."

This got me a laugh. "Don't choke Simon, then I won't have anyone to cook for."

"God forbid."

We ate and bantered, it was our usual silly playfulness but there was something else to it now. This was the first time that we were going to be alone for a whole night together. I was actually relieved, I'd waited for almost three years to see if there was anything to my attraction to Haven.

I rinsed the dishes and put them in the dishwasher while Haven took a shower. I hummed to ignore the shower sounds and only felt safe when she reemerged in a pair of pink fleece pajama pants and a white tank top, towel drying her hair.

"Ready for _Astro Boy?_" I asked, doing a bad impression of a flying robot.

Haven giggled. "Ready as I'll ever-" A rolling boom of thunder cut her off and she flinched.

I turned off the lights in the kitchen, remembering about the massive storm front that was rolling in. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Just took me off-guard. We should keep off most of the electronic stuff during the storm but I think the TV will be okay."

We settled on opposite ends of the couch, Haven with her feet tucked underneath her and me sprawled comfortably. We were barely five minutes into the movie when I looked over and saw big tears running down Haven's face.

I yelped and scrambled over to her. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing. It's just… sad." She sniffled and nodded at the movie.

Toby, the main character, had just died. We both knew that he wasn't really dead because he WAS the main character, but that didn't stop Haven from crying.

"Seriously?" I meant to sound sarcastic but she looked so pitiful and… _adorable._ "Come here you goof." I pulled her across to my end of the couch and settled her against my chest, stroking her hair. "Titanic must have been lethal for you."

That got me a watery laugh. "Animated movies always get to me for some reason."

"Ah. Then _Bambi_ must have been lethal for you." I smiled.

"I HATE that movie! It always makes me cry!"

I leaned back so I could see her face just as another round of thunder sounded and she jumped again. I tightened my arm around her, not minding the excuse to get close.

"So cartoons make you cry and thunderstorms make you nervous. Interesting."

She grumbled but settled against me, curling into my side. I tried to act natural, it wasn't like I'd never cuddled with a girl before, but no other girl felt like Haven, or had a mind like hers, or smelled like lemon blossoms…

"I don't always get all leaky-eyed when I watch movies, it's just when I'm stressed."

"Are you stressed now?" I moved the hand in her hair down to her shoulders, pressing lightly and finding her muscles tense. "Feels like it."

"Ah well, maybe a little." She wiped her eyes and turned that sunny smile up at me. "The job can be pretty exhausting."

"I can imagine. It must be tiring to be someone else all the time."

"Yeah. It's easy to forget who I really am." She sounded distant and I didn't want that.

"That's silly." I rubbed my fingers down her neck and shoulders. "I like who you are."

She sighed and I felt it run across my skin. "Sometimes I wish there were more guys like you Simon."

"One's not enough? Greedy." I decided to be bold and risk outstaying my welcome by sweeping some of her wavy hair behind one of her ears and continued making light circles with my fingers.

"Mmm… One would be enough for me if I had one." Her cheek under my fingertips grew warm and I felt a slow smile tug at my mouth.

_Maybe I shouldn't be worried about outstaying my welcome._

There was a deafening crack of lightening and a bone-jarring peal of thunder and Haven squeaked as the TV blinked out with every other small electronic machine still on—the microwave, the DVD player, and the clock on the side table.

"This whole phobia thing is pretty cute." I smiled down at Haven in the dark as a slight tremble ran through her.

"Oh yeah. Adorable." She sighed. "It's completely irrational. I've taken out guys twice my size, I've dealt with scorpions, snakes and spiders but thunderstorms still make me nervous as hell."

"Since you've inadvertently shared your phobia with me I will share mine with you." I traced a hand down Haven's arm to her hand and laced my fingers with hers. "Ready?"

I saw her tilt her face up to mine by the shift in her silhouette. "Ready."

"Sharks." I whispered conspiratorially.

"Simon, sharks don't count. That's cheating." She pouted.

"No I promise, I'm terrified of water where I can't see the bottom, sharks could be anywhere."

"Like the lake?" I saw a flash of white as she grinned.

"Like you said, it's not rational. If I can't see the bottom and it's a big enough body of water it's going to take a LOT of alcohol to get me in."

"Really?" She laughed. "But sharks are amazing animals!"

"Oh yeah, amazing and terrifying and never sleeps and has skin made of teeth… blegh."

"Wait. Skin made of teeth?"

"Mm-hmm, like scales."

"How exactly did you learn that one?"

"Shark week." I smiled. "Anything else I should know about you?"

She pushed up on one of my legs so she was kneeling and leaned in to my ear. "I. HATE. Eating lobster."

I shivered, and not from the mention of lobster. "Why on earth would you hate lobster?"

"It's the cracking!" She dropped back on her heels and covered her face. "God I _hate_ the cracking of the exoskeleton, it makes me yak. Seriously."

"Yak?" I chuckled. "I haven't heard that since third grade."

"Uuugh I was having such a nice night and now it's _ruined!_ Curse you lobster!"

I watched as a flash of lightening illuminated Haven's form, hands still covering her face. It suddenly seemed incredibly silly to me that we'd spent the last three years joking about or ignoring our mutual attraction. I know that I'd been holding out because I didn't just like Haven, she wasn't some girl, she was THE girl and I'd known that for awhile. The only thing that had been holding me back was that—while I know that she was attracted to me—I didn't know if I was going to be just a conquest or something more.

I decided to risk it. I reached out and took both of her hands, tugging them from her face and pulling her to me.

"What are you doing?" She asked hesitantly.

I moved her surprisingly delicate wrists to one hand, clasping them and trapping her. "Something I've wanted to do for a long time." I laced my free hand in her hair and tilted her face up to mine.

"Kiss me." She murmured and her breath hitched as I obeyed her, meeting her lips with mine.


End file.
